Craigslist blocking Airbnb.com • Hacker News Board

Re: Craigslist blocking Airbnb.com

#11

Post by incongruity » Fri, Apr 27, 2012, 5:46 AM UTC

poppew wrote: post #5

I think craigslist is notorious for this. I remember they recently blocked my favorite posting app, Bazaar, and all they did was host the images you posted from your phone. This was the simplest most user friendly app to post to craigslist with. So basically craigslist blocked any ad that had an image hosted by Bazaar. Killing Bazaar was a huge disservice to me as I stopped posting as many things to CL and a huge dis…

> These guys are doing a disservice to the American public.

This comment blows my mind. How quickly we take things for granted is astounding.

CL is a largely FREE site – I for one have sold around $1k of stuff I didn't want on there in the last decade or so – not much, but I paid exactly $0 for that. Try that with eBay or, even better, your local newspaper classifieds.

The entitlement that lurks behind comments like the one above – or at least the hyperbole within it is amusing, at best.

CL works – it's far from perfect, sure, but it's perfectly free for most users and most things – the change it has brought about and the value its given to its users makes it a textbook case for service to the American public in my book.

Now, if we want to talk about how it can be made better, sure, there's a lot there, but don't blow it up to be a crime against humanity, or God, King or Country...

Re: Craigslist blocking Airbnb.com

#12

Post by intended » Fri, Apr 27, 2012, 6:15 AM UTC

poppew wrote: post #5

I think craigslist is notorious for this. I remember they recently blocked my favorite posting app, Bazaar, and all they did was host the images you posted from your phone. This was the simplest most user friendly app to post to craigslist with. So basically craigslist blocked any ad that had an image hosted by Bazaar. Killing Bazaar was a huge disservice to me as I stopped posting as many things to CL and a huge dis…

?Beautiful.

Does that really matter? Take a bloomberg terminal - its literally arcane. If you don't know the specific commands to type, and the stock naming system they and only they use, you won't be getting anywhere.

You would never have someone make an interface like that today. At the same time - it works. Once people get learn it, it moves into muscle memory. Since it obeys internally consistent rules, its also possible to uncover more functionality once the first beach head is made.

If you want more brutal examples - think of DwarfFortress, nethack and other ascii based games. Once you know the command structure, it becomes second nature.

You may not need a beautiful interface. The interface is just a wrapper.

Re: Craigslist blocking Airbnb.com

#13

Post by eps » Fri, Apr 27, 2012, 6:23 AM UTC

foxit wrote: post #3

I hope this submission gets noticed. Craigslist is the absolute best way to advertise Airbnb listings. Without it, we're kinda sunk, and it could have a big impact on Airbnb's bottom line.

Do you work for Airbnb?

Re: Craigslist blocking Airbnb.com

#14

Post by andrewfelix » Fri, Apr 27, 2012, 6:32 AM UTC

athst wrote: post #9

I don't understand - why should they allow AirBnB postings in the first place? When someone comes to Craigslist, I think the assumption is that you'll be doing business on Craigslist and not through a third party site like AirBnB. Why should they allow another company to take advantage of their audience if they don't want to?

Yeah it's funny the expectations people have of long running commercial services like Craigslist. Craigslist is not a public utility.

Re: Craigslist blocking Airbnb.com

#15

Post by jurre » Fri, Apr 27, 2012, 6:55 AM UTC

bizodo wrote: post #8

I think it's bc they found out about how airbnb used robots, scrapers and fake gmail accounts to scrub Craigslist and spam people listing their apt.

I think you should post some proof when making accusations like that?

Re: Craigslist blocking Airbnb.com

#16

Post by bahoo » Fri, Apr 27, 2012, 6:55 AM UTC

andrewfelix wrote: post #14

athst wrote: post #9

I don't understand - why should they allow AirBnB postings in the first place? When someone comes to Craigslist, I think the assumption is that you'll be doing business on Craigslist and not through a third party site like AirBnB. Why should they allow another company to take advantage of their audience if they don't want to?

Yeah it's funny the expectations people have of long running commercial services like Craigslist. Craigslist is not a public utility.

Agreed; but listings do often link out to other external sites. CraigsList seems to draw the line between a property management company and somebody like AirBNB.

Re: Craigslist blocking Airbnb.com

#17

Post by foxit » Fri, Apr 27, 2012, 7:01 AM UTC

SeoxyS wrote: post #10

foxit wrote: post #3

I hope this submission gets noticed. Craigslist is the absolute best way to advertise Airbnb listings. Without it, we're kinda sunk, and it could have a big impact on Airbnb's bottom line.

I disagree. I've been an Airbnb host for 6 months now ($13k+ of revenue so far for our spare bedroom / couch in prime SF location, fantastic reviews). We used to use the Craigslist posting feature in the early days, but we now get so many requests that we actually have to decline most, just from organic Airbnb search and referrals. The quality of users referred through Craigslist has historically been lower than orga…

1. You have a prime SF location and your fantastic reviews will always get you a high place in Airbnb's listings. SF and NY have enormous exposure. Enough people coming to town a) need an alternative to high hotel prices and b) are aware of the existence of a site called Airbnb that you will never run short of guests.

2. We don't use the Craigslist posting feature through Airbnb's site. It would make some sense for Craigslist to limit the use of that tool, since they have limited the use of other automated tools (limiting their own utility as a service, but that's beyond the scope of what I'm talking about). This is not being able to type "airbnb.com" into the posting form at all, something quite different. Potential guests ask for reviews, as they should, and we direct them upfront in our Craigslist ads to Airbnb, Homeaway, and other places we have excellent reviews.

Re: Craigslist blocking Airbnb.com

#18

Post by foxit » Fri, Apr 27, 2012, 7:02 AM UTC

eps wrote: post #13

foxit wrote: post #3

I hope this submission gets noticed. Craigslist is the absolute best way to advertise Airbnb listings. Without it, we're kinda sunk, and it could have a big impact on Airbnb's bottom line.

Do you work for Airbnb?

I operate vacation rentals and my family makes part of our living through Airbnb, and thus have an interest in their continued growth and success as a company.

Re: Craigslist blocking Airbnb.com

#19

Post by foxit » Fri, Apr 27, 2012, 7:06 AM UTC

athst wrote: post #9

I don't understand - why should they allow AirBnB postings in the first place? When someone comes to Craigslist, I think the assumption is that you'll be doing business on Craigslist and not through a third party site like AirBnB. Why should they allow another company to take advantage of their audience if they don't want to?

This isn't about them allowing postings via airbnb, but rather not allowing the string "airbnb.com" to appear in the ad.

Re: Craigslist blocking Airbnb.com

#20

Post by andrewfelix » Fri, Apr 27, 2012, 7:06 AM UTC

philipdlang wrote: post #7

Its too bad that nobody has figured out how to move onto a better version of Craigslist. Their real estate listings in particular are a major source of pain for New Yorkers, and they even charge for postings there. Craigslist's lack of any customer support opens a black hole for any account issues you may be having.

Craigslist has an established audience. It's the same with Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Once a service reaches a critical mass it becomes very difficult to dislodge its position in the market.